LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Often times police officers are the first to be on the scene when people are injured.
Thanks to a new program, Louisville Metro Police officers can now get additional medical training and become certified Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs).
All LMPD officers receive basic tactical medical training, but this advanced training allows officers to better serve the community and help treat people in various trauma scenarios.
"You know if someone gets shot in the femoral artery, they only may have 40 to 45 seconds until they bleed out," Officer James Fischer said. "So it might take us that long to get to the scene, so if we put a tourniquet on before EMS gets there, we may just save a person's life."
As of Thursday, the department now has 10 officers who have received advanced TACMED classes and are certified EMTs.
"We wanna encourage others to be great, we wanna encourage others to actually make sure that they're doing exactly what I need for you to do," Interim LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said. "Because guess what? That's another notch underneath LMPD's belt of public safety for our city."
These LMPD officers are now trained EMTs:
- Officer Jeromy Lynton
- Detective Scott Christman
- Officer Austin Faith
- Officer James Fischer
- Officer Matt Gelhausen
- Safety Director Officer Todd Richardson
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